Thursday, May 15, 2008

Chee Kin in Sydney!

Remember the dance party I attended? Yes, the one that had me going home at 4:30am and sleeping at 5:30am. Guess what? I slept for a total of 3 hours and had to dash to Darling Harbour to meet a very important person - Mr. Fong Chee Kin!

You might be wondering who this person is. If you're not interested in my version, click on his name on the right and that will lead you to his lovely star-themed blog. But if you are too lazy to click the mouse button, here is my intro of this fine young lad:

I first got to know Chee Kin 14 years ago. At that time, he was probably as tall as my waist. He was an obedient and intelligent young boy with good manners and a helpful disposition. Occasionally, tempers would flare when his spelling results weren't as good as Jie Hui, Yi You or Li Xin's. He took very good care of his younger brother, Chee Seng. I especially remember the time I taught him some songs and a dance. His dance partner was Li Xin for the concert the year they were graduating and they made a really good pair! He also sang in my choir. I would have to say that out of all my students, he was one of the few that made quite an impact. And then, we lost touch...

Many people say that the internet is a God-sent. I would have to agree because it helped reconnect Chee Kin and I. It was through Friendster that I found him and we started to correspond. Alright, he's not the best when it comes to replying MSN messages but at least, we are in touch now. Imagine how excited I was when he told me that he would be coming over to Sydney!

Well, I guess I wasn't as excited as he was to be flying on the new A380. Yes, he's a plane maniac and no prizes for guessing that he wants to be a pilot.

During his time here in Sydney, his dad and he stayed at the serviced apartment directly opposite Xin Wen's old place. I think it was called Maestri Tower or something along that line. So, I was their tour guide for 3 days and I started it off with a hearty breakfast at Pancakes on the Rock. As it was a Saturday, the market was open and Uncle had a nice time looking at the bric-a-bric that were sold. And oh, we just had to take a picture since it's been such a long time since we met!


After that, we walked up to the Harbour Bridge to climb one of the pylons. Check out the view:


From there, we walked back down to Circular Quay where they had to confirm their day trip to the Blue Mountains. And how can you not take a picture of the coat hanger when you visit Sydney?


Of course, from there onwards would be the famous Opera House, which to Chee Kin (and myself) was more normal than fantastic.



I then brought them into the Royal Botanical Gardens to see the flying foxes hanging upside-down on the trees before heading down to Woolloomoolloo for some famous Harry de Wheel hotdogs.

Rest assured that I brought them to all the landmarks in Sydney - QVB, Town Hall, Chinatown, Paddy's Market, the University of Sydney, Sydney Fish Market, Chinese Friendship Garden, St. Mary's Cathedral, Hyde Park. I will not dwelve into details because firstly, I don't remember them very clearly anymore and secondly, I'm too freaking lazy to type them all out. But, I can tell you that I even drove them to Bondi Junction and Bondi Beach. Chee Kin was thrilled to buy himself a Quiksilver (or was it a Billabong?) sweater. Yes, I know what you mean when you say that the air-conditioning in Taylor's is cold. Oh, and Bondi Beach was where they had a taste of heaven - the world-famous Pork Ribs of Hurricane!

All in all, it was terrific to be able to just meet up with Chee Kin again. I hope you enjoyed yourself, dude. I know I enjoyed myself immensely!


Next time, bring Jie Hui along!

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